I have an Ubuntu machine with multiple users. I want all of them to be able to access the same Dropbox folder. How do I set up the Dropbox syncing process?
Currently I have the Dropbox daemon running under only 1 of the user's accounts (call him Bob). This is fine as long as Bob is logged in. Even if a different user (say Sally) is also logged in and is actively using the desktop, since Bob is logged in in the background, the daemon will keep running and any of Sally's work in the Dropbox folder will be synched right away.
The drawback is that if the machine is rebooted (or Bob logs off instead of doing "switch user") and it ends up that Sally is logged in but Bob is not, then the Dropbox daemon will not be running, and Sally's work will not be synced.
I don't think it's a good idea to have every user running the Dropbox daemon, because then they may interfere with each other, because there is only one Dropbox folder that all users are sharing.
I also don't want to have every user have their own Dropbox folder, since that would duplicate all the files.
Best Answer
There is some information on the unofficial dropbox wiki how to set up Dropbox to start up at boot time and run in a GUI-less Linux environment using its own user account.
I have not tested this. Hope it help.